Glass processing apparatus are commonly used to form various glass products for example LCD sheet glass. Glass substrates in flexible electronic applications are becoming thinner and lighter. Glass substrates having thicknesses lower than 0.5 mm, for example less than 0.3 mm, for example 0.1 mm or even thinner can be desirable for certain display applications, especially portable electronic devices for example laptop computers, handheld devices and the like.
Flexible glass substrates, for example glass substrates used in the manufacture of display devices, are often processed in sheet form. Such processing can include, for example, the deposition of thin film electronics onto the substrate. Sheet form handling has relatively slow processing speeds compared to continuous processes, since sheets must be individually transported, fixtured, processed and removed. Continuous processing of flexible glass substrates in ribbon form can provide relatively faster manufacturing rates. One benefit for a thin glass substrate is that the flexibility afforded by the thin ribbon allows it to be used in processes utilizing rolls of the material.